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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BROCK, Broak, n.¹ Also broke (Lnk. 1890 H. Muir Reminisc. 103), brook- (poss. a misprint), brok. [brɔk, brɑk]

1. The badger, Meles taxus. Gen.Sc. Given in N.E.D. as chiefly dial.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 279:
The Miser hears him with a Gloom, Girns like a Brock and bites his Thumb.Sc. 1896 A. Cheviot Proverbs 136:
He hasna sense enough to keep a brock oot o' the kail yaird.Sc. 1995 David Purves Hert's Bluid 18:
Lintie an laiverok, whaup an houdie craw,
foumart an eimok, houlet, pickmaw,
mowdiewart an horniegollach, brok an tod anaw;
sum gait, thai'r littil sib til Inglish beiss ava.Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 69:
Scalin alang the glen wis a lythesome linn o deer, a hale breenge o bawds, a fleerich o mappies, a kirn o creepie-crawlies an a hotterel o mowdies, tods, brocks an bantam chukkens.Fif.¹⁰ 1936:
Stinkin' like a brock.Knr. 1925 “H. Haliburton” Horace in Homespun, etc. 227:
Wi' ilka beast that near it bides, The bee that bums, the brock that hides.Ayr. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs xii.:
They gang as saucy by poor folk, As I wad by a stinkan brock.Kcb. 1895 S. R. Crockett Men of the Moss-Hags xxxii.:
I steek baith the inner and the outer doors to keep awa' the waff o' the brock.

Combs: (1) brock-faced, broakie-, having a face streaked like a badger (Cai.⁷ 1936, broakie-; ne.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); (2) brock-holes, “badger dens” (Ayr.⁴ 1928; Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 93).(1) Sc. 1791 The Bee (24 Aug.) 261:
The black-faced and brook-faced breeds, so frequent in the southern districts of Scotland.Sc. 1934 A. Fraser Herd of the Hills x.:
It was the head of a distinguished and sweet ewe-lamb that followed a brock-faced ewe with the tip off one horn.

2. An opprobrious epithet applied to a person. Gen.Sc.m.Sc. 1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood xvi.:
For the Lord's sake, Mr David, get her down to the Kirk Aller tolbooth, for the Shirra is kinder than yon red brock o' a pricker.Arg. 1901 N. Munro Doom Castle xxiv.:
Ye dull-witted Lowland brock! . . . have I no' the use of my own eyes?Slk. 1818 Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck II. ii.:
Vile brock! gin I war hame at him I'll dad his head to the wa'.Uls. 1901 J. W. Byers Ulster Sayings and Folk-Lore, Lecture 1, in North. Whig:
A “brock” in the North of Ireland is also applied to a dirty, malodorous person, and so comes to denote a “skunk” — that is, one given to dirty tricks.